What's Your Career Story?

[janikpilot]

A while back I came up with the idea of having a website where people could go to look up career stories. It's easy to find normal career statistics like annual income or education requirements, but finding actual stories of people in the field is next to impossible. A doctor makes upwards of $100,000 a year, but what is it like to actually work at a hospital? What kind of people do you meet, and why did you choose to become a doctor? Those are the questions that are hard to find answers to unless you actually know somebody who is a doctor. So, I began to design a website where people could read stories what it is like to actually work in a career field. It began as just a way to learn about PHP/MySQL interaction, but it's becoming a really serious project that I would love to see take off. I know a lot of friends that have no idea what they want to be after high school, and having a place where they could go to figure it out would be awesome. But in order for that to happen, I need people to actually tell their stories.

So, I came to the POA forum for help. I know you guys have seen me around here a couple times, but I have trouble actually posting on any thread, since I offer little help to any aviation discussion, due to the fact I have yet to actually start my training. But trust me, I read through the threads often. I know there are a TON of different career paths on here, and it would be really cool to have them on my website.

Let me clarify the purpose of this post. In no way is this meant to be an advertisement for my website. It is merely a topic of discussion for what you guys think about this idea. Whether or not you choose to post on my website is your choice, and only your choice. Would it help if you did? Yes, and I would greatly appreciate it

So two questions:
1. Do you think this is a good idea? Does it have potential to expand?

2. What can I do to make the website better?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I wonder if a vBulletin forum would add value?

vBulletin could not add value to hell itself. Why does everyone insist on using it? There is other forum software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software

 

[Jim Logajan]

Which is your favorite and why? What don't you like about vB? I have experienced only 3 or 4 forum SWs and this one is my favorite.

Not one of the forums I have ever joined that use vBulletin allow a user to delete their account. None. Either it isn't included in the base software or everyone seems to turn it off. When I asked the owner of Van's Airforce forum to delete the account I had created there he couldn't (or wouldn't?) do it. The best he could offer me was to "ban" my account so no one could hack into it.

It has now become a personal criteria that a forum or social media site allow me a way to delete my account if I decide to leave. Any forum software that doesn't support that basic capability is written by idiots. (Might pay to read the Wikipedia page on vBulletin if you need more info on its dubious history.)

I also happen to think the available ways vBulletin presents threads suck relative to what some of the better Usenet readers used to allow.

As to alternatives - I use forums, not implement them. I'd love to suggest forums that use something other than vBulletin but I haven't joined all that many forums - and the few that I have all had the same affinity for vBulletin.